Ryan turns three!

Ryan turned "fwee!" on the 9th of this month.  What a perfect day, spent with and reminiscing about my sweet little boy.  The morning prior when Neil asked him, "Is tomorrow your birthday?" Ryan said, "Yep!  And I want green cupcakes!"  The birthday boy kicked things off just right with the birthday morning ritual of racing through balloons on his bedroom floor and streamers in his doorway - a tradition we started a few years ago.

This was actually taken the night before just after I'd blown up the balloons and hung the streamers.  He remained sound asleep while I snuck around his room doing my mommy birthday duties.

Sooo happy was he!

After breakfast, dropping Chloe off at school, and "helping" me vacuum out my car, I asked Ryan what he wanted to do for his birthday.  Naturally, he said, "Go to McDonald's."  That's always what he wants to do.  When asked which friend he'd like to take, he said, "Grandma Jill!"  When I told him that, as honored as she'd be to accompany him on a play date to McDonald's that she was a little too far away and that he'd need to choose a more local friend, he said, "Umm, how 'bout Josh!?"  Well, the birthday boy got his wish.  Lunch and playtime at McDonald's with the second pal of his choice!

Can you tell they both had chocolate milk with their happy meals?

Every time I'd ask Ryan how old he was he'd say, "four!" and hold up four fingers.  Silly kid.

Not long after we finished our lunch, it was time to pick up Chloe from school.  When we got home, I somehow convinced Ryan to take a nap so that he'd be rested and happy for birthday festivities later that evening, and also so I could make his cake!  Success!  He got up from his nap just as I was finishing.  We ordered a Round Table pizza, and shortly thereafter, our next door neighbors, Richie, Christie, Ariana and Gabby showed up bearing gifts and waiting to celebrate with us.  We sang to the birthday boy, helped him blow out his candles, ate cake and watched him open gifts.

Shortly after Ryan suggested green cupcakes for his birthday, he changed his mind to chocolate cake. Done! I made a simple bundt cake with drizzled frosting. The "red" turned out to be more of an orangy-pink, but I ran out of red food coloring along the way. Spider-man was from Josh. Ryan loved it, though if he'd had his choice I'm sure Superman would have been atop that cake. We searched and searched for a Superman figurine with no luck. Spider-man did just fine though, and Ryan is still loving him.

So many presents!  Where to begin...

Opening the gift of the night. 

So just a little background on that there cape.  A while back, after observing the kids using dish towels as super hero capes, playing "hero" and "victim," and watching plenty of old Superman and Spider-man episodes on Netflix, I decided that handmade super hero capes would make great birthday presents for both kids.  I immediately knew what I wanted them to look like and found some inspiration online, then got to work.  Neil, who had planned to help me, ended up sewing the actual capes because everything else (ie, cutting out letters and circles, stitching them together and to the capes and making the masks) took waaay longer than either of us anticipated.  It was all pretty easy but surprisingly time-consuming.  Neil and I were up until 2:45am the night before Ryan's birthday.  It was all worth it though when we saw the excitement in Ryan's eyes upon pulling his cape and mask out of the bag.

Pausing for a moment of silence before heading off to save the world.

More fun being had.

Chloe was so excited to get Ryan Buzz Lightyear for his birthday.  Last year she got him Woody, so it only made sense.  He was very happy with his gifts and his special day all around.  He also informed me at the end of the night that next year he wants a dinosaur birthday party!  Gifts from Grandpas and Grandmas showed up over the weekend and he was thrilled to get to do the presents thing all over again!  Here he is showing off two of Grandpa David and Grandma Susie's presents.

What a great football season this has been for us!!  Go Niners and Geaux Tigers!!

And here's a cute outfit from Grandpa Roy and Grandma Jill, which he wore to church on Sunday!



You guys sure have good taste!  Thank you for your contributions to a very successful third birthday! Ryan seemed very pleased.  He is such a joyful little boy, and I could never imagine life without him.  I have lots more to share, including Ryan's birthday interview, his well-check up stats and photos and other updates.